Motorway blocked by car fire and oil leak with long delays near Stansted Airport

Passengers were warned to expect cancellations and delays to train services on the West Coast Main Line between London Euston and Scotland early on Monday.

Great Western Railway said passengers should ‘not attempt to travel’ between Swansea and Carmarthen until at least noon, or on the Looe, St Ives and Gunnislake branch lines in Cornwall until at least 11am.

Transport for Wales said all railway lines were blocked on 11 routes, such as between Swansea and Milford Haven, between Swansea and Shrewsbury, between Birmingham International and Shrewsbury, and between Chester and Holyhead.

Chris Baughan, Network Rail’s West Coast South route operations manager, said: ‘Storm Darragh has wreaked havoc on the railway this weekend and we are very sorry to passengers for the disruption to train services this morning on the West Coast Main Line as frontline teams continue with emergency repairs and the clean-up.’

For a full list of impacted rail lines, scroll down or click on the ‘Full list of train disruption caused by Storm Darragh’ bullet point above.

A spokesperson for Ryanair has confirmed to Metro that its app and website are back online.

There were significant reports of people being unable to check in early for their flights because the app and website were both down.

A short statement said: ‘Our website/app were temporarily unavailable for a brief time in the early hours of this morning (December 9), and are back online since early this morning.’

A spokesperson for TfL told Metro: ‘We apologise to customers affected by the temporary suspension of the Piccadilly line between Rayners and Uxbridge due to significant leaf fall. 

‘We employ a robust action plan every year to minimise the impact of leaf fall on our network which includes intensive trackside vegetation clearance and running specialist engineering trains along affected sections.

‘However, high volumes of leaves can make the track slippery and increase the risk of damage to train wheels, which is why we sometimes must introduce part-suspensions at this time of year, depending on weather conditions.

‘Trains continue to run from Rayners Lane along the rest of the Piccadilly line and the Metropolitan line is running as normal.’

There’s a problem under investigation between Blackfriars and St Pancras International, which is disrupting all lines.

Trains could be cancelled or delayed by up to 45 minutes.

National Rail says: ‘We’ve recently been told about this incident disrupting Thameslink services, and we’re working to get more information for you.

‘Your journey is likely to be disrupted, but we don’t have an exact estimate for any delays at the moment.

‘It’s likely that you may need to use another route, and we’ll let you know more details shortly.’

It’s impacting the following Thameslink services:

• Between Bedford and Three Bridges / Brighton
• Between Cambridge and Brighton
• Between Peterborough and Horsham
• Between Luton and Rainham
• Between St Albans City and Sutton

The M11 is still blocked southbound between junction 7a for Harlow and 7 for Chelmsford.

The long tailbacks are having an impact on junction 8 for Stansted Airport, and drivers are facing 90-minute delays.

National Highways traffic officers are now starting to run trapped traffic past the scene in lane one.

Scroll down for the official diversion route.

If your train journey is delayed or cancelled you may be entitled to a full refund from the retailer of your ticket, or compensation from the train company that caused the delay. 

If your train is delayed or cancelled and you choose not to travel, your unused ticket can be refunded without any fees by the original retailer.

If you are travelling and arrive late at your destination due to a cancelled or delayed service, you may be able to claim compensation.

Compensation will depend on:

• Which train company you travelled with
• The type of ticket you have – for example, compensation for a single Day ticket is calculated differently than that for a 7-Day Season ticket
• The length of the delay in arriving at your destination – each train company has its own compensation threshold, which will be detailed in their Passenger’s Charter on their website

Claims can be made online, or by post using a form that you can download from a train company website or get from a staffed station.

Drivers are facing hour-long delays after a two-vehicle crash on the M11 in Essex.

The southbound carriageway is blocked between junction 8 for Stansted Airport and 7a for Harlow.

The fuel tanks of one of the vehicles involved in the collision was ruptured. Fuel leaked onto the road and then caught fire.

The fire service and ambulance service are both at the scene. The fire has since been extinguished but now the road needs to be cleaned up.

This could impact drivers on their way to catch a flight at Stansted this morning – queues are tailing back for about three miles on the approach.

Here’s the official diversion route following the hollow square symbols:

• Ext the M11 southbound at J7A and take the second exit onto the A1025.
• Remain on the A1025 for approximately 2 miles to the “Mark Hall Roundabout” with the A414.
• At the Mark Hall Roundabout take the 1st exit onto the A414 southbound.
• Continue for approximately 2 miles to re-join the M11 southbound at J7.

Szymon is one passenger unable to check in to his flight early as the Ryanair website is ‘undergoing essential maintenance’.

Earlier delays on the Northern line have now cleared up, but there are still issues on the Piccadilly line and new delays on the Jubilee line:

• Piccadilly line: No service between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge due to difficult track conditions caused by significant leaf fall. Minor delays on the rest of the line due to shortage of trains
• Jubilee line: Minor delays due to a shortage of trains

Embankment damage found during an overnight inspection between Polesworth and Atherstone last Tuesday (December 3) is still having an impact on the line between Tamworth and Nuneaton.

All lines are still blocked and passengers can expect cancellations or hour-long delays.

National Rail says: ‘Network Rail engineers are on site and working hard to assess the scale of the damage, monitor the situation and carry out the necessary repairs.’

The disruption caused by this is expected to last until at least the end of the day.

It’s impacting the following services:

• Avanti West Coast between Edinburgh / Glasgow Central / Lancaster / Blackpool North / Preston / Manchester Piccadilly / Liverpool Lime Street / Holyhead / Chester / Wrexham General and London Euston
• London Northwestern Railway between Crewe and Rugby / Northampton / London Euston

There’s a faulty train on the line between Maidenhead and Bourne End, which is blocking all lines.

Services will be cancelled and the disruption is expected to last until 9am.

National Rail adds trains between Bourne End and Marlow are not affected by this disruption.

A vehicle has hit a railway bridge at Bootle New Strand, which is disrupting all Merseyrail trains which run between Liverpool Central and Southport.

Passengers are facing half-hour delays, cancellations, and services could be revised.

There’s a tree blocking the railway between Oxted and Hurst Green this morning, causing major disruption to Southern and Thameslink services in the area.

Engineers are on their way to assess the damage.

National Rail is telling passengers to delay their journey until later today, adding that anyone trying to travel now will face a much longer journey than usual and may need to use an alternative route.

It’s impacting the following services:

• Southern between London Victoria and East Grinstead
• Southern between London Bridge and Uckfield
• Thameslink between Bedford / London Bridge and East Grinstead

The A21 in Kent is closed westbound between the M25 junction 4 and the A224 for Badgers Mount.

There’s been a serious collision and emergency services are at the scene.

Currently there isn’t an estimated time for reopening.

Drivers are advised to exit the M25 at junction 3 or 5 and use local routes instead of using junction 4.

There are several incidents ongoing across the rail network caused by Storm Darragh this morning – here’s the current situation:

• Disruption to CrossCountry, LNER and Northern trains after a tree fell onto the line between Leeds and Wakefield Westgate. Repair work has now been completed since the tree fell on Thursday, but there could still be some residual delays caused by speed restrictions in the area
• Buses replace CrossCountry and London Northwestern Railway trains between Stafford and Stoke-on-Trent until the end of the day, after damage caused by severe weather blocked the line between the two stations. Disruption is expected until the end of the day
• No West Midlands Railway trains between Bromsgrove / Redditch and Birmingham New Street / Lichfield Trent Valley, after a fallen tree and damaged overhead electric wires blocked railway lines. Disruption expected to continue until 10am
• Several Great Western Railway routes suspended with passengers warned not to travel on the following routes until lines reopen:
  • Between Swansea and Carmarthen
  • Between Plymouth and Gunnislake
  • Between Liskeard and Looe
  • Between St Erth and St Ives
  • Between Exeter St Davids and Barnstaple
• Several Transport for Wales routes suspended with passengers advised to check their journey in full before travelling:
  • Between Bidston and Wrexham Central
  • Between Holyhead and Llandudno Junction / Chester
  • Between Llandudno / Llandudno Junction and Blaenau Ffestiniog
  • Between Shrewsbury and Birmingham International
  • Between Shrewsbury and Hereford
  • Between Shrewsbury and Swansea (via the Heart of Wales line)
  • Between Machynlleth and Shrewsbury
  • Between Carmarthen and Pembroke Dock / Milford Haven / Fishguard Harbour
  • Between Maesteg and Bridgend